Board to give $15K a year to attorney

After deliberating for about three hours Thursday night the Hampton School Board voted 5-2 just after midnight to give Board attorney Nanci Reaves a 15 percent retirement annuity.

That means that beginning July 1 the district will put about $15,000, or 15 percent of Reaves' $101,105 base pay, into a retirementaccount for her each year. The change was made to Reaves' most recent letter of employment, which outlines her salary and benefits.

School Board members Martha Mugler and Lennie Routten voted against the annuity.

The Board originally considered giving Reaves a special contract that included the annuity, severance pay, and other perks, said Chairman Fred Brewer. A job offer to Reaves from another district prompted the contract, he said, but members couldn't agree on its terms Thursday night.

Mugler said she has a fundamental problem giving anyone extra benefits after the district had to cut $25 million from its $208.7 million budget in March.

"We've just come out of this budget cycle where we had to let people go and reduce people's salaries," Mugler said. "It's very difficult for me to justify spending extra money right now."

Routten's "no" vote on Reaves' amended benefits was his last as a school board member. His 14-year tenure ends July 1.

Reaves initially had been directed to write her own contract terms, which Mugler said put Reaves in an awkward position. Reaves even told the board she didn't feel the need for a contract, Mugler said.

Reaves' current base pay will drop by 0.8 percent on July 1, along with the pay of every employee in the district. Other top administrators in the districts central office are getting a 1.6 percent cut.

Reaves is a Mathews County resident who was hired in March 2008. Brewer said she took a pay cut from her last job as assistant county attorney in Gloucester. It's worth paying her more because of her invaluable skills, he said.